


Three times Tony brought Bucky out of a zone

by Briz



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briz/pseuds/Briz
Summary: And one time he didn't.





	Three times Tony brought Bucky out of a zone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InsaneJuliann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneJuliann/gifts).



> I am very sorry for the delay. My beta unfortunately had to drop the story on the last minute, so this is not beta-ed. I hope to update this with an beta-ed version as soon as I find a new beta (anyone interested?)
> 
> I watched a few episodes of The Sentinel (so trashy and so good) to write this closer to the series canon, so it's not completely compliant to fandom characterization of this trope. Still, I hope you enjoy the story!

**_\------_ **

**_1_ **

**_\------_ **

 

_ “...Adín. Gruzavój vagón.” The final words settled like nails being hammered inside of his head, and it hurt just as much, like every single time, as he felt his consciousness begin to fade away and give place to something primal inside of him, wild and unsettled... _

 

_ … And then he looked up, gazing into brown eyes wide with surprise. The hammering inside of his head stopped so suddenly it gave him whiplash, and for the first time in his life, the Sentinel felt complete. _

 

“God, this is awkward."

 

“You think so?” He spat out very annoyed, turning his head to glare at Falcon. Sam was good, very cool guy, but that was a very insensitive thing to say in the given situation. Sam just sent an unimpressed look his way, like a parent would to a particularly bratty child with a meltdown, and somehow it made Tony, a grown ass man, feel like a chastised child.

 

The whole week was a clusterfuck, with Ross and 117 nations breathing down his neck, the bombings in Vienna, and Steve being a mule with his special brand of stubborn. Having the Winter Soldier, a high level Sentinel, going berserk in the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre was supposed to be just another manageable catastrophe in the long line of snafu’s that was Tony’s life ever since Afghanistan.

 

That’s where things really got out of hand.. One minute he was staring at the barrel of the Winter Soldier’s gun, watch gauntlet wrapping around his hand to stop his bullet. Next he knew, the Winter Soldier was tackling him to the ground, effectively pinning him with the bulk of his body and all but tearing his shirt open to push his face against bare skin, sending buttons scattering on the floor. 

 

_ Direct contact is an essential part of the process of imprinting _ , Tony’s mind supplied the information from one of Doctor Sandburg’s papers. The Winter Soldier was imprinting on him, on the floor of a cafeteria he had just trashed, with half of the Avengers for audience.

 

So, awkward didn’t even cut it; it was, in fact, a very insulting understatement: “Frightening” and “embarrassing” were far better descriptives to having Bucky Barnes wrapped around him, spiraling very quickly towards “mortifying”. There was also “arousing” (having those thighs wrapped around him?  _ damn _ ), but Tony wasn’t acknowledging that one just yet, not when Captain America looked like he was witnessing a car crash.

 

“Why isn’t anyone moving to help me here?” The complaint was more a diversion tactic to hide his embarrassment.

 

“He’s imprinting on you. Sentinels get really defensive on the early stages of a bond, if we try to interfere he will lash out.” That was Sharon Carter, who had been too busy on her phone until then. That might explain why they didn’t have a swarm of heavily armed agents surrounding them by now.

 

“Just relax and let him do what he needs to do.”

 

Tony sighed, thumping his head back against the ground.

 

\------

**_2_ **

**_\------_ **

 

Bucky comes to when a hand touches his back, a warm and firm pressure between his shoulder blades, there and then gone. It takes him a while to realize it’s not  _ gone _ , just gone from that place, and touching another place - on his left shoulder, but then it’s not  _ there _ anymore again. 

 

It takes a while for him to register someone’s been  _ rubbing _ his back.

 

_ “...right, come back to me, sugarplum” _ That voice, it feels safe. He knows that voice, tries to anchor himself to it, until he can no longer hear so clearly his blood running through his ear, or the people talking on the next room.

 

“What’s going on?” Bucky asked dumbly. He was aware, on a logical level, of what was going on, but he hasn’t given logic the time of the day for a long, long time.

 

“There you are. You were on a zone. I… uh, I got you out.” Tony said, looking down at the place where his hand was still holding Bucky’s wrist. The bond between them was still a frail, awkward thing, neither of them really sure of where they stood - it may have pushed them together, but it didn’t have  _ everything _ covered, not with all the things they still had to clear out.

 

Bucky just nodded, slumping down as things came back to him - apparently, Steve had been hiding some very important things from Tony. Tony didn’t react very well, there was a shouting match, Tony was flying his suit away. Tony had been gone for three days before he went under once again.

 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you” Tony interrupted his thoughts, and that was  _ wrong _ . 

 

“You shouldn’t apologise to me” He couldn’t meet Tony’s eyes, those eyes that had snapped him out of the zone back in Berlin. He didn’t deserve a guide, let alone one whose parents he had killed. He tried to remove his wrist from Tony’s grasp, but Tony just held on tighter.

 

“It wasn’t your fault!” The vehemence in his voice surprised Bucky, and he snapped his head up to look at his guide. “Hydra did that, not you. You were just a tool”.

 

His tone had a certain air of finality to it, like Tony wouldn’t accept any arguments to the contrary. He couldn’t call himself an expert in Tony Stark, and maybe that was wishful thinking, but Tony looked like he sincerely believe that, even if Bucky himself didn’t.

 

“That’s not a very nice thing to call someone” it was a pitiful attempt at a joke, but Tony chuckled nonetheless, and that sounded like he was releasing a breath he had been holding. That, at least, seemed to clear the air between them.

 

“We’ll figure things out, okay?” Tony promised, and Bucky believed that.

 

_**\------** _

**_3_ **

**_\------_ **

 

Just because they had a little heart to heart, it didn’t mean things were suddenly perfect between Bucky and him. For starters, he knew Bucky still blamed himself not only for his parents’ deaths, but for every single victim Hydra had forced him to murder. Tony knew they’d eventually have to come back to that subject, but Tony wasn’t sure if he was up to the task, at least not yet, and not without a lot of professional help, which they had talked about as well.

 

Instead, he decided to tackle on the issue he could fix right now, namely, their bond. Tony knew attraction, but the bond brought it to a whole new level on some unspeakable, irresistible way. He knew that would eventually tie in with the other issue, but they were trying in whatever capacity they could. Like right now, with Bucky sitting on his lab on the couch that once had been Steve’s spot with a tablet while Tony worked on his projects.

 

Steve. Tony was still unspeakably mad at him, and that hurt a lot, but he knew the would end up forgiving him, eventually. Steve was a dear friend, and he was properly contrite about keeping that secret from Tony, enough to finally sign the accords. Maybe he’d pretend to be mad a bit longer to milk this compliant side of Steve for a while longer, he thought with amusement as he bent over the table to retrieve a wrench.

 

Something fell to the ground, startling Tony into snapping his head to look. Behind him, Bucky sat completely motionless on a zone, tabled luckily unshattered on the ground.

 

“Shit!” He exclaimed, running to Bucky’s side and squatting in front of him. His pupils were dilated, gaze fixated on Tony, but definitely not registering anything. “FRIDAY, what happened? What sent him into a zone?”

 

“I’m not sure, boss. My sensors can’t detect any disturbance on the environmental inputs Sergeant Barnes was receiving relevant enough to trigger a zone out, but he seems to be focused on sight” His girl sounded calm and collected, but he knew she was running every single diagnosys she could on the room to detect the source of Bucky’s zone. 

 

“Right, sight. Just need to block it, right?” His first instinct was to put his hand over Bucky’s eyes, but that felt stupid. Instead, he tugged on Bucky’s neck until he willingly bent forward, pushing his face to hide against his neck. Scent had helped the first time, it might as well help again.

 

A few torturous minutes later, Bucky finally seemed to come back to himself, inhaling deeply against Tony’s neck. Wow, goosebumps.

 

“You back on earth, Buckaroo?” Tony asked, petting his hair, to which Bucky nodded and slowly sat back down on the couch.

 

“Yeah. Thank you.” He sounded tired, as he always did after a zone.

 

“What sent you down?” Tony asked out of curiosity - the lab was large and shiny, maybe he would need to put some order to the mess if he wanted Bucky to continue hanging out there.

 

Bucky’s reaction, however, was not what he expected. He averted his eyes, and it was definitely a blush covering his face and the tip of his ears.

 

“It was - uh, something on the tablet. I gotta go” It was a strange reaction, but he was up and out the door before Tony could call on his bullshit.

 

_ He’s lying _ , Tony realized in surprise, as he picked up the tablet and it was very clearly turned off.

 

“FRIDAY, what was Bucky looking at when he went into the zone?” 

 

“Sergeant Barnes was looking at you, boss” This time, it was Tony who nearly dropped the tablet. Him? But he had been there all afternoon, what had he done to send Bucky into a zone? He thought back on what he had been doing - soldering a piece on the gauntlet, then he reached over to get another tool…  _ Oh. _ He had  _ bent over _ to get another tool. That was… interesting. Maybe he should call that professional help sooner rather than later.

 

_**\------** _

**_+1_ **

**_\------_ **

 

Bucky was getting tired of coming back to himself feeling like shit after losing control of his body. This time, however, it wasn’t a zone, or the Hydra programing, but a fucking anxiety attack. He thought he was doing well in therapy, and that gave him hope for his future with Tony, but the sight of a girl’s red leather planner had sent him spiraling out of control in the middle of a coffee shop, on his first “date” outside of the compound with Tony.

 

Tony, who was sitting by his side and rubbing the back of his hand, sans gloves. That was probably as much skin contact they would be able to get in public.

 

“You back with me?” Tony asked him, and Bucky felt a weird sense of deja vu. Tony had been asking him that a lot, it seemed. Bucky just nodded, sighing and slumping on his seat.

 

“Good. Here, I ordered some hot chocolate. Maybe you should skip coffee for today” He pushed a white mug towards Bucky, encouraging him to drink. Bucky noticed Tony also had a mug of hot chocolate instead of coffee, and felt incredibly endeared and thankful for the small gesture.

 

“Thank you” Bucky said once he lowered his mug on the table. “I’m sorry I’m fucking things up”.

 

“You’re not fucking anything up. You’re doing great” Of course Tony would argue that.

 

“That girl had a red book and I freaked out. It doesn’t matter how great you say I’m doing, no amount of therapy is gonna take those triggers out of my head!”

 

Tony stared at him for a few long seconds after his little rant, considering.

 

“About that… I think I know of someone who could fix that.” He revealed, giving pause to watch for Bucky’s reaction. When nothing came, he went on. “I’ve been in touch with her for a while, and she’s already agreed to help you, if you agree to it.”

 

It was like the air had been punched out of him. Getting rid of the triggers seemed like more blessings than he deserved.

 

“What if it doesn’t work? What if I’m stuck like this forever?” He wanted to believe that, but it was too good to believe.

 

Tony linked their fingers together, squeezing Bucky’s hand. “Do you trust me?”

 

“Completely” Bucky didn’t even hesitate. They might not yet be a completely bonded pair, but they were getting there.

 

“Then trust me when I say we’re going to be fine.”

 

And Bucky believed him.


End file.
